“Through ambiguity… deep CREATIVE STATES can be UNLOCKED.”
What follows, according to performance artist Sandrine Schaefer, is a brief preview of a site-specific piece that “takes on a time structure inspired by cycles of dormancy in bears,” and in which “the tension between mechanical, geological, and felt time is always palpable.” With that in mind, let’s once again witness Ms Schaefer’s devastating heat-ray of creativity:
Ms Schaefer, who teaches performance art to those less gifted than herself, is a recipient of the Boston ICA’s 2015 Foster Prize, and has been described by the ICA’s senior curator as “amazing,” “compelling” and yet inexplicably “underfunded.”
Her previous artistic feats can be experienced here, here, and here.
There is never a real bear around when you want one.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | February 06, 2018 at 00:16
"Oh, bother", said Pooh
Posted by: Sporkatus | February 06, 2018 at 00:25
All I can say is thank goodness it's "cycles of dormancy in bears", not "cycles bare".
Posted by: Gunker | February 06, 2018 at 00:35
Both of them?
Posted by: Alex deWinter | February 06, 2018 at 00:54
So her service is essentially to provide a blank canvas onto which we can project our sarcasm? Which reminds me, this being Massachusetts, whatever became of Michael Dukakis?
Posted by: WTP | February 06, 2018 at 01:11
It reminds me of that Far Side cartoon with the snake, octopus, and squid entangled on a chair.
Posted by: Pogonip | February 06, 2018 at 02:18
Yikes, that is beyond stupidity...
Posted by: champ | February 06, 2018 at 02:40
yet inexplicably “underfunded.”
Perhaps the artist should perform pieces that the paying public wish to see.
Posted by: Black Ball | February 06, 2018 at 02:40
So I briefly clicked on to the links to her other videos on Vimeo going back 3 years (oh, the one biting into an onion is classic, I tell you)
strangely, not one comment to be found ...
Posted by: Darleen | February 06, 2018 at 03:01
I bet time feels to be moving geologically when you watch her "art"...
Posted by: Angus | February 06, 2018 at 03:28
And if she has a boyfriend, it's one of a long list of things he has to lie about.
No, baby, the video was awesome! My mom and dad liked it too!

Posted by: Monty James | February 06, 2018 at 04:51
yet inexplicably “underfunded.”
In other words: a hobby.
Posted by: lotocoti | February 06, 2018 at 05:00
Good God that is retarded.
Posted by: David | February 06, 2018 at 05:40
I would have said overfunded, myself, but it's probably just a matter of semantics.
Posted by: Hopp Singg | February 06, 2018 at 06:07
No screaming or babble-speaking, no flailing, jerking excuse for a dance, no see-through apparatus allowing the performers to hotbox their own bodily stench. Not even any misuse of common condiments.
This is a new low, David.
Posted by: Squires | February 06, 2018 at 06:49
This is a new low, David.
Did you not see the piles of deep and intriguing wisdom?
Hello…?
Posted by: David | February 06, 2018 at 07:01
Oh, well done, David! Now describe a hangnail.
Posted by: Hopp Singg | February 06, 2018 at 07:06
Of course her greatest artistic feat is slouching in her underpants and chomping lettuce.
It’s not easy to top a thing like that.
Posted by: David | February 06, 2018 at 07:12
strangely, not one comment to be found...
I suspect most of the traffic comes from here, so that’s probably for the best.
Posted by: David | February 06, 2018 at 07:34
. . . “takes on a time structure inspired by cycles of dormancy in bears,” . . .
Well, that's perfectly reasonable. Would you want to share a stage with a live, fully grown bear, prolly one looking for something to munch on? Much better to take the stage when they're safely asleep . . .
Posted by: Hal | February 06, 2018 at 07:46
A witness to performance art inherently assumes the privilege of having survived an exclusive experience.
I'm a performance art survivor.
Posted by: Clam | February 06, 2018 at 07:48
I’m a performance art survivor.
I feel your pain.
The pretence of intellectual heft and critical discernment is quite funny, given the unspoken rules of pretend artists and their pretend art. Like practically all of her fellow hustlers, Ms Schaefer tells us that she “investigates” and “questions” things, and presumably interrogates them; but despite this allegedly relentless curiosity, I doubt that any specific insight or profundity is ever conveyed to her audience, such as it is, via the art, such as it is. And of course we’re not supposed to notice this, or notice the comical mismatch of arch rhetoric and inept flummery. And so, in order to feign discernment, one has to not discern any number of really obvious things.
Posted by: David | February 06, 2018 at 08:00
It doesn't improve when you switch from 360p to 540p.
Posted by: Pete of Perth | February 06, 2018 at 08:43
No refunds. Credit note only.
Posted by: David | February 06, 2018 at 08:44
Needs to end with the stage direction "Exit, pursued by a bear".
Posted by: Rob | February 06, 2018 at 11:03
I'm still wondering, philistine that I am, why she is wearing what at 1080p appears to be a dog's head. I suppose it could be a dog identifying as a bear, but still...
...and now, to clear the mind of this asshatery, something completely different:
Booting a computer, 1969 style.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | February 06, 2018 at 11:40
Be honest... it's just her standing in the woods for a minute and a half isn't it.
Maybe doing something inane?
Posted by: SumDunGuy | February 06, 2018 at 12:53
Bear-themed performance art. More entertaining than Ms. Shaefer's efforts, I think.
Posted by: R. Sherman | February 06, 2018 at 12:58
The only thing was a bear belly.
Or is this "The Unbear-able Lightness of Breathing"?
It also appears that it was not bear season. Not really so avante-garde and egdy now, is it?
Posted by: Chris Scherf | February 06, 2018 at 13:17
Your tax dollars at work.
Posted by: Mike | February 06, 2018 at 13:20
Your tax dollars at work.
I don’t know about the funding of this particular, um, effort, but Ms Schaefer has received grants from the Boston ICA, which receives public funding, and from Waltham Cultural Council, which in turn is funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and ultimately by the taxpayer. The MCC claims to be “unleashing the power of culture.”
Posted by: David | February 06, 2018 at 13:31
May I have my credit note, please?
Posted by: Jon Powers | February 06, 2018 at 13:35
appears to be a dog's head
That's what I thought at first too, but upon closer examination (the things I do!) it appears to be a bear-head decal on the shirt. The "artist's" head is still inside the shirt, or so it appears.
Posted by: jabrwok | February 06, 2018 at 14:04
The hanger is entirely appropriate. The whole thing resembles a failed abortion attempt.
Posted by: Steve E | February 06, 2018 at 14:33
The whole thing resembles a failed abortion attempt.
Heh...Best argument for abortion...from Ace...
Regarding art in general, wife and I attended a very enjoyable outdoor art festival this weekend in central Florida and I was quite pleased that everything that we saw was what one could reasonably call art. No performance BS, not one piece of political BS. What was especially nice was the fact that it didn't occur to me that either was "missing" until I read this post. Granted, one photographer artist with whom I spoke had to take an arrogant pose when I asked about one of his pictures. And a couple people freaked out, though in a very passive aggressive way, as I lit a cigar on our way back to the car.
I'm still wondering, philistine that I am...
One thing that did occur to me while there was that much of the art we were seeing was far too pedestrian for most "real" art critics. Yet crap like this can find many apologists among the "educated". I wasted a little too much time pondering the meaning of the word "philistine".
Posted by: WTP | February 06, 2018 at 15:00
That's what I thought at first too, but upon closer examination (the things I do!) it appears to be a bear-head decal on the shirt.
I don't know - a) Bears don't have floppy jowls or white, brown, and black muzzles, nor have tongues hanging out; b) I don't give her credit enough for knowing the difference between a dog and a bear.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | February 06, 2018 at 15:05
[E]verything that we saw was what one could reasonably call art.
Probably because the works evinced skill in creation and were pleasing to the senses. Unlike the "performance BS," which usually involves a couple of dudes performing a pee de deux, then haranguing the audience for forty minutes about systemic oppression while using the word "metaphor" way too often.
Posted by: R. Sherman | February 06, 2018 at 15:09
( - so you know - yes; and I'm sorry - there's no record of Maxine Waters saying that (however fitting it would've been):
truthorfiction (dot) com, maxine-waters-i-march-because-my-mother-couldnt-have-an-abortion )
Posted by: Y. Knott | February 06, 2018 at 15:15
In what substantial fashion does this 'performance art' differ from a child draped in a sheet pretending to be a ghost?
Posted by: aelfheld | February 06, 2018 at 15:28
( - so you know - yes; and I'm sorry - there's no record of Maxine Waters saying that (however fitting it would've been):
You know, Ace has really been disappointing me lately. I have been generally associating such disappointments to a certain Dildo but I'm beginning to wonder if it isn't a bit broader amongst the other COBs now. I understand it's not a "news" site but it seems lately they are simply not interested in any negative feedback regarding facts. Perhaps I've been turned all upside down but I expect the MSM to abuse facts and not really care much. When those who (rightfully) abuse the MSM for abusing facts and then carelessly abuse them themselves...sigh...People like me who actually have a life (yes, hard to believe as often as I post here), can't be bothered to check out ever freaking thing. It's all so tiresome.
Posted by: WTP | February 06, 2018 at 15:40
I can think of a number of things that would be improved by that.
Posted by: Alex deWinter | February 06, 2018 at 17:44
Performance art used to include things like Laurie Anderson (wow, I almost typed Laurie Penny there. phew.)
Laurie was seriously weird, sure, but also talented, musical, imaginative, hard-working, and inventive.
Oh, and quite commercially successful.
Ms. Schaefer? Not so much.
Posted by: Fred the Fourth | February 06, 2018 at 18:05
In my opinion, her sound effects are less interesting than Ivor the Engine, but on the other hand, I found her midriff twitch oddly hypnotic.
I bet flies never settle on her stomach.
Posted by: Paul Carlton | February 06, 2018 at 18:37
and now, to clear the mind of this asshatery, something completely different
Thank you!
Posted by: pst314 | February 06, 2018 at 18:39
It suddenly strikes me that most pieces of performance art can be improved with a string vest and a knotted handkerchief.
Wellingtons too, if you want to go full Gumby.
Posted by: Paul Carlton | February 06, 2018 at 18:40
"In what substantial fashion does this 'performance art' differ from a child draped in a sheet pretending to be a ghost?"
It has a picture of a bear (or possibly a dog)?
Posted by: Paul Carlton | February 06, 2018 at 18:53
"Oh, bother", said Pooh.
Posted by: pst314 | February 06, 2018 at 19:50
Talk about chutzpah...
https://bearingarms.com/bob-o/2016/11/03/parents-dead-robber-really-mad-victim-gun/
Posted by: champ | February 06, 2018 at 20:02
Talk about chutzpah...
Given the context, the mother’s indignation does seem a tad misplaced. But I suppose indignation, however absurd, may serve as a buffer against another, more credible feeling - say, shame.
Posted by: David | February 06, 2018 at 20:18
Durational work endures time...
That it does:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/77092519@N08/8256111183/in/album-72157632519495350/
A shame Ms. Bearshirt didn't bother.
Posted by: Squires | February 06, 2018 at 20:47
The tree should file a grievance for molestation uninvited.
Rubbing against that branch and panting.
I did notice she factored in gravity and taunted without being crushed by pretension.
She should do that with a large cactus, and get more funding. And medical attention.
Posted by: neal | February 06, 2018 at 22:14
Did someone say Laurie Penny?

Posted by: PiperPaul | February 06, 2018 at 22:30
Obviously going through her static period.
Posted by: Robert of Ottawa | February 06, 2018 at 22:37
I thought that dead thug story sounded familiar, and it was -- it's from November '16. Don't know why it recently popped up again.
Posted by: Alex deWinter | February 06, 2018 at 22:46
I thought that dead thug story sounded familiar, and it was -- it's from November '16.
Yes. Although that sort of story is depressingly familiar. "Why did the police have to shoot him? He was only committing armed robbery!" seems to be a common complaint in sections of society that one does not want to meet. My favorite remains "why did that janitor have to shoot my baby? He was only beating the janitor with a baseball bat. Racism!"
Posted by: pst314 | February 07, 2018 at 01:59
The Peasants are Revolting!
You said it! They stink on ice! ... oh, waitaminute! The elites are revolting against the peasants.
Posted by: Spiny Norman | February 07, 2018 at 03:14
? for hanger clothes the is hell the what.
Posted by: scat d'Ursus Arctos | February 07, 2018 at 20:47